BLEACH: Resurrección
by deadbeard
Summary: As the Winter Invasion begins and the Hollow Army serving the traitor Shinigami Captain Aizen, events begin to unfold in new and unexpected ways. Let the War for Karakura, and for the Throne of the Soul King begin!
1. The Winter Invasion

Note: Re-uploaded with new scene headers. Doesn't matter for this chapter, but I like to be thorough.

Recommended Music = Run This Town-Posthumus Zone (Jay-Z & Rihanna)

* * *

The Gargantas opened with the sound of rending static. In the skies high above Karakura Town, the gaping maws widened, allowing their passengers to enter the human world. Grim and white-clad, the heralds of death strode forth, anxious for the slaughter to begin.

"Well, at least it's a nice day out," Gin Ichimaru, formerly a captain of the Gotei 13 said in a pleasant, matter-of-fact tone. His perpetual fox-grin cut his face like a knife's edge.

"Be serious, for once," his immediate subordinate, Kaname Tosen tersely replied, not deigning to turn and face Gin. Of course his being blind may have dictated this.

"Well it is, Tosen m'boy!" Gin folded his arms into his expansive cloak, "I mean, I'd certainly hope to die on a day as nice as this one: not too hot, some lovely clouds out. Seriously, just _look_ at it!"

Tosen tensed up at the last remark, yet said nothing. He awaited his master's wish, secretly hoping he'd be allowed to deal with Gin as he once did with the Sexto Espada, Grimmjow. Even if the punishment didn't stick, it certainly quieted the rowdy Arrancar.

Sosuke Aizen didn't turn around. "It _is_ a nice day, isn't it?"

Tosen resigned himself at that, beginning a cursory sweep of Karakura Town with his available senses. The city lay sprawling below the Arrancar Army, spreading out from the winding artificial riverbanks like an expanding spider's web. As he scanned, he realized something about the web:

"Lord Aizen!" he cried, "It's a trap! The humans are gone!"

As if on cue, a wave of Kido barriers disintegrated across the sky before the Arrancar. Where once were the open heavens now drifted all the Captains and Lieutenants of the Gotei 13 not trapped in Hueco Mundo. At the head of the Shinigami, Captain-Commander Yamamoto stood resolute, his long braided beard lightly moving in the wind.

"Well," he said in a deep, gravely voice, "It looks like we made it here in time."

Aizen sighed wearily, "Of course it's a trap. Though I must say the thoroughness surprises me," he gestured towards the town, "I can't believe the Gotei 13 would go to the trouble of evacuating all the humans from Karakura."

"That's a lot of memory-wiping," Gin added. "I almost pity whoever comes out on top today. The paper work'll be a nightmare. Maybe they're trying to intimidate us into losing…clever…"

Tosen bit down a remark and instead said, "Lord Aizen, if there are no humans here, then fighting would be pointless. We should head for Soul Society immediately and…"

"In due time, Tosen. First, we need to look at all of our options. Old Man!" Aizen suddenly cried, "A word! Parley!"

Yamamoto acknowledged Aizen's call and came close enough to speak with the traitorous Shinigami. "There is only one way this can end Aizen, with your death or capture."

Aizen smiled, almost wistfully, "Old Man, after all we've been through, you won't even hear me out? Is your opinion of me really so low?"

Yamamoto watched Aizen, Gin and Tosen for a long moment. "I will hear terms. I cannot promise to grant mercy though."

At this, Aizen nodded, seemingly touched for the first time. "Very well. If you surrender, I will not kill a single Shinigami…"

The Old Man glowered as he spoke, and only allowed Aizen a few more seconds before bringing his sword around in a swift arc. With a cry of "_Jokaku Enjo_" he hurled sheets of flame across the sky that swarmed about Aizen and his lieutenants, swiftly forming burning barriers around them.

As the fire settled into place, Gin asked, "You don't think he thought _we_ were surrendering, do you Tosen?"

"I think," Tosen said, "that we should break free as soon as possible before Captain-Commander burns the Espada to cinders."

Aizen nodded, as if confirming something with himself. "You're not giving my Espada enough credit. I have every confidence in them. I've prepared them for this day. They will not fail," said Aizen with all the finality of a hanging judge. With his declaration, the matter was all but settled for Tosen, who resigned himself to the position of a spectator in this war.

Gin however felt restless. "Hey Tosen, let's play a game."

""What…?"

"I spy," Gin leapt right into his game, "with my little eye, something that's black!"

"…Is it me?" asked Tosen wearily.

"You're good at this."


	2. Every Rose Has its Thorns

As the battle for Karakura is joined, Aizen and his Lieutenants make an unsurprising discovery, and Yumichika turns the tables on his opponent.

I hope to make this a weekly-update story. Again, critiques always welcome.

Recommended Music = Lola (The Kinks)

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* * *

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With a steady eye, the King took in the town of Karakura. Was this truly to be his promised new world? It seemed so small. For all of Lord Aizen's boasts and claims of power, this was all he had to offer?

Barragan Luisenbarn, the Segunda Espada, a grizzled old man built of muscle and scars, could only shake his head at Aizen's foolishness. The battle had yet to begin and already he and his lieutenants, Gin and Tosen, were trapped behind some sort of infernal barrier. Well, it hardly mattered now; there was a war to win after all.

Time was a'wasting, as Gin once put it; Barragan rather like that expression.

He sat upon an alabaster throne, surrounded by his vassals, his thanes, his Fracción. The other Espada already tendered command to him, as they should. Now he bent his mind to the task of the battle against the Shinigami. He often wondered what a battle against true Shinigami was like, considering in all his eon-long reign so few had invaded his realm.

Hopefully, it wasn't boring. "I can sense four towers," Barragan's voice rumbled regally, "They are all that is holding the humans of this place in Soul Society."

One of his Fracción, Barragan didn't note which, said almost to himself, "So this is the _real_ Karakura Town, just without its people?"

"Of course it is!" Barragan growled angrily, turning to Ggio Vega, the apparent speaker, the shortest Fracción, a slim man with a sabertooth-like mask. "Even an idiot wouldn't waste so much energy to replace an entire town!" The mollified Vega shook under his master's anger.

The other Fracción about Barragan kept their silence, awaiting their master's order.

"Send forth the Millones!" the King of Hueco Mundo spoke with absolute finality. As the echoes of his voice faded away, the Gargantas began to open in the air just above Karakura's streets. Like a tidal wave, thousands and tens of thousands of Hollows large and small poured through the reality rifts, straight from the Forest of Menos with a ravenous hunger.

These were the Millones, the thousands of Hollows kept by Aizen and the Espada as their most basic of weapons, their infantry. Barragan looked upon them with the same feelings as if he were looking upon ants. But they were _his_ ants. Several of his Fracción raced ahead of the surging flood at a nod from their King. They would lead his army to victory this day.

Barragan allowed thoughts of the future, thoughts of driving his axe into Aizen's heart, to swell in his mind, until the Millones hit a wall of steel.

From behind the buildings, from within them and around them a wave of black-robed Shinigami, thousands strong, struck back at the Millones, a mirrored wave sent to combat the Hollow Army. The lines crashed together in a melee of zanpakutos and Hollow claws. Barragan watched with a harrumph as his army splintered against the enemy. Yet he could take solace in one fact: where the Shinigami had thrown the entirety of their unseated officers against the Millones, the stream of fresh Hollows through the Gargantas did not abate. Their deaths were inevitable.

Barragan's Fracción sped past the battle, onward to the towers.

* * *

"It's me."

"How d'ya keep guessing? Okay, I spy something that starts with 'F'."

Tosen replied automatically, "It's me…wait…"

Gin's smile couldn't actually get wider, but the impression was there. "Gotcha! It's the firewall!"

A shiver of power passed through Gin at that moment, his perpetual grin vanishing to be replaced by a rare thoughtful expression.

Tosen noticed, "Is something the matter? That was Izuru Kira, yes?"

"Nuthin's wrong," Gin appeared to gaze past the flames. Kira's Reiatsu seemed to flicker and fade away just after one of Barragan's Fracción.

"So you don't feel any remorse for abandoning your Lieutenant?" Tosen didn't turn to face Gin often, for obvious reasons, but he did here. He long ago gave up on witnessing a single glimmer of humanity in Gin's icy black heart, so the sudden about face caught him by surprise.

Gin smirked and switched back at once. "You're one to talk. You abandoned your Lieutenant same as me."

Tosen said, defensively, "Hisagi could handle himself. He was ready for the responsibilities."

"Did anyone else notice that?" asked Aizen. "It felt like Ikkaku Madarame just released his Bankai."

Gin sighed, "Finally! I thought it'd never come out."

"Maybe he still thinks no one knows about it?" Tosen added.

"Worst kept secret in Soul Society," Gin laughed. "Not that I'm rooting him on or anything like that, but at least he's stopped hiding his power. That sort of repression can't be good for you. Just a thought," he added, "Can you tell what his Bankai _is_?"

Aizen concentrated a moment. "A giant ax."

Gin's smile disappeared again. "Well. That's disappointing. What kind of a Bankai is that? That's like if _my_ Bankai was my Shikai but it went further. It's a cop-out."

Tosen tilted his head quizzically, "Gin, what _is_ your Bankai?"

"I spy something black."

Tosen sighed.

_

* * *

_

The battle for the towers raged atop the four massive pillars, the paperweights of reality, as the Fifth-Seat Lieutenant Yumichika Ayasegawa pointed out to his fellow tower-defenders when tasked with this most important of assignments.

That was a good thing because in Yumichika's case, he didn't want to get bored. Despite his appearance, and his usual behavior, and the way he…well, did everything, one could be forgiven for thinking Yumichika wasn't, at his heart, a fighter. In fact, he knew that the towers were where every Hollow for miles would be aiming for, and he eagerly awaited the battle.

That was, until the battle occurred. At the moment, he felt some of his eagerness waning, coincidentally in proportion to the amount of blood left in his body. One thing he had to give his opponent credit for: the ugly brute in the tutu hit like Captain Zaraki during a practice fight, which considering the catastrophic fatality rates for the Eleventh Division's practices, said a lot.

The top of the tower looked about the same ass Yumichika felt: broken and coated in a fine layer of rubble. The Arrancar invaders struck at all four of the towers protecting the people of Karakura from a rather grisly future as a key. Of course when the battle was over there were going to be a few rather miffed humans trying to fathom how a city block got smashed into a perfectly square hole.

Yumichika slowly rose from what could be best described as a fetal position, checking his sword for damages while ignoring his thrice-broken arm. No one could see bones after all, so he had to keep up his swords appearance first. Even in a fight an impression was an impression. He carefully pushed his perfectly straight black hair into place, smoothed his extra long red and yellow eyebrow lashes, and finally checked his orange collar for damage. Still beautiful, he thought.

Standing a few feet off, one of the Fracción, he believed they were called. The Arrancar introduced himself as Charlotte Cuulhorne or something to that effect. What did it matter? His face told you right from the start he was _certainly_ not one of the beautiful people. Yumichika had as little time for ugly names as for ugly people: none. Cuulhorne wore something generously described as a tutu stretched over a barrel-chested monster of a man.

His hair, purple and long was also out of season, Yumichika noted smugly.

"Ah, you've done well for yourself, Shinigami," Cuulhorne spoke in a magnanimous fashion, which told Yumichika right off the bat the Arrancar wanted him dead. Well, _screw_ that!

Yumichika gouged the air with his four-bladed Zanpakuto, rending the space between him and the Hollow with a wave of black shadow-blades. Cuulhorne almost welcomed the attack as it splintered harmlessly across his hardened abdomen. Yumichika wasn't surprised he didn't even cause clothing damage, there wasn't much to be damaged.

The Hollow threw his head back and chortled, "Yet you persist? Oh, very well. I suppose torturing such an ugly soul as you is too cruel. I shall put you down, post-haste!"

Above the combatants, in the air above the tower, a white rose formed seemingly from the very fabric of the world of the living.

"Rosa! Blanca!"

Waves of shadow fled its petals, absorbing the whole tower in a shrouded barrier. A cold calm fell about Yumichika as he realized the wind had stopped and his foe's Reiatsu swelled into a gale. Cuulhorne's power blew out from his flower.

"See Shinigami? Do you realize that my greatest attack is upon you! No one can see you now! No one can sense you now! As you die, bask in my magnanimous mercy! For I have hidden your grisly end from view, allowing you a private, warrior's death…!"

"No one?"

"No one!" Cuulhorne roared triumphantly.

"They can't sense what goes on in here?"

"Of course not! You are as good as invisible to your friends and allies…!"

Yumichika smirked. "Well, that _is_ a relief. Roar! Nensho Kujaku!"

Cuulhorne shut his eyes tight as a blast of azure light struck him. It filled his senses, deafened him, blinded him, shut him down completely. However, there was some small, unnoticeable corner of his awareness that remained intact, remained capable of processing what had taken place.

He heard a sound that shook him to his very core. "Ban-Kai!"

Finally, he was able to look upon his foe, who he once thought a victim. How naïve that thought was now. Yumichika stood engulfed in blue-green flames coursing over his whole form, rippling across the face of the tower, bending space itself almost to the breaking point. He held what seemed to be a regular katana, but the doomed Arrancar felt it pulse with unbridled Reiatsu. Gazing even further up, Cuulhorne nearly wept at the sight of that titanic peacock rising before him, forged of blue and green flame.

Yumichika spoke, "I'd just like to thank you, Hollow. If it wasn't for you, I would never have had the nerve to do this."

"What? What? What is that…?"

"Oh this?" Yumichika asked, as if suddenly noticing a crooked portrait on his wall, "Burning Peacock. You like?"

"I…it's…" Cuulhorne watched helplessly as the edges of his _Rosa Blanca_ turned black and wilted. He could feel the shadow barrier struggling to contain this Shinigami's Bankai.

"Of course it is. I doubt anyone's ever seen a Bankai as beautiful! Of course," he added bitterly, "since it's not a direct-combat zanpakuto, but a Summons type, I'd be humiliated if anyone from Eleventh Division saw it. They've got a thing about 'fighting your own battles'", he said, effecting a gruff, ugly guttural voice that anyone familiar with Captain Zaraki would find humorously accurate.

Zaraki himself would find it a death-sentence, but then again for Zaraki a "Hello, Good Morning, how's your mum?" was a death-sentence.

"Again, thank you. It'd also be a shame if I got promoted out of my Division. I quite like where I am, and those big-wigs at the Seretei don't seem to like Bankai-users staying put. Politics…" he added with a snort. Anyway, Yumichika always thought the way they spelled his title, Fifth-Seat Lieutenant, looked wonderful. Why'd he ever give that up?

Yumichika looked down upon his opponent, now falling away from him as he rose up from the tower. He'd try to just buzz it, but just in case it was probably best to evacuate ground zero. He'd never taken his Bankai out in battle before, unlike Ikkaku, the bald idiot, who threw his at every opponent he met.

And he wonders why everyone already knows? Yumichika often wondered whether or not to start a club and call it the "Society for Shinigami Who Know About Ikkaku's Bankai and Want Him to Get Over It". So many people would join; the membership fees alone could set Yumichika for life!

"Last words?"

Charlotte Cuulhorne took a deep breath. Then, pitifully, in a confessional whisper, "Damn it."

"Good enough!"

The Burning Peacock let out a furious bellowing roar that shook the barrier around them. It spread its wings from wall to wall, the weight of its power barely contained and turned to face the hapless Hollow.

* * *

Lieutenant Shuhei Hisagi idly touched the gash along his cheek that partially hid his '69' tattoo. He really hoped that one of the Fourth Division could heal it without losing any ink.

He drifted high in the air between his and Lieutenant Yumichika's tower, warily eyeing the strange black cloud that had set down atop the tower. What was taking so damn long? This fight felt like it had gone on for months!

Still, he hoped Yumichika didn't need his help. With Izuru gone…

A whiff of Reiatsu stirred the air. Hisagi readied himself, his dual-scythes held up in a defensive stance. Away from him, the shadowed mass above one of the towers began to crack, a thunderous boom muffled in its absolute darkness. Azure light bolted from the small cracks rapidly racing across the barrier's surface.

A second sound, less than the first, ripped the shadow open entirely. Though Hisagi felt little to no Reiatsu from the azure explosion that rippled across the sky, he was sure it looked like almost like a bird…

He flew over to the dissolving shadow as it vanished, spying Yumichika near its former epicenter.

"Lieutenant Ayasegawa!" he called.

"Oh, hey there Hisagi," Yumichika said nonchalantly, readjusting his hair again. He looked relieved, like some weight was off him.

"It's Lieutenant Hisagi," Hisagi wearily intoned. Why was it no one used titles anymore? It seemed like if you wanted someone to acknowledge your rank, you had to get disciplined by a Captain.

Yumichika looked around, as if looking for something. "I can't sense Kira anymore. Does that mean…?"

Hisagi looked away. "I'm afraid so."

A long silence followed. Yumichika faced away from Hisagi. After a few moments he turned around again, his face set as hard as the edge of a knife.

"His killer?"

Hisagi resisted the urge to swallow after a look like the one Yumichika wore, "Dead. Kira got the bastard first."

Yumichika nodded, somewhat accepting the situation. "I can tell he's alive, but how did Ikkaku fair? He didn't use his Bankai, did he?"

Without answering, Hisagi pointed behind Yumichika. He then waited in silence as Yumichika pulled his jaw back up from his feet. Yumichika waved his arms in an impotent, unspeakable shock.

"How…? Why…? What the hell happened!"

"From the sound of Komamura's screaming," Hisagi noted the wolf-headed Captain berating Ikkaku above the smoldering cinders once known as a tower, and before that Karakura High, "I'd say he missed."

Yumichika slowly set his head in one hand and sighed heavily.


	3. Gray Part One

Early Christmas gift, or Late for Thanksgiving, You decide!

Recommended Music: Another Stranger Me (Blind Guardian)

* * *

The cityscape wasn't quite how he remembered it. All the grandeur was there, skyscrapers stretching higher and higher to scratch the heavens hidden in gray clouds, but below in the streets water raged like a flood in a storm. Water churned and thrashed against the monolithic buildings, protesting their very existence.

The buildings themselves were no longer the clean white towers they once were. They appeared as shadows of their former glory. Rain and wind and the pounding of a relentless storm had shorn away all but a few scraps of its whiteness, leaving the world a dull, water-logged gray.

The only thing familiar was the altered gravity. Ichigo Kurosaki, the orange-haired Substitute Shinigami, stood on the face of a building as if it were normal; to his left, the sea, and the clouds to his right. And ahead of him sat the reason he needed to return here.

Some of the buildings showed some structural damage and this one was no different. Long, twisted iron bars jutted out of its side like a long-dead corpse's ribs, and sitting atop one such beam, Ichigo's Hollow.

"Hey King," he waved one pale white hand at his landlord, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" This Inner Hollow wore all-white where Ichigo himself wore black, wore similar hakama and a similar long-coat. Even his hair was white. But his eyes were all black, pupil and sclera, with only a yellow iris to know where his gaze fell.

Ichigo didn't answer at first. He wasn't sure how this would play out. Every other time he came here he put his soul on the line. His last visit to his Inner World found Ichigo with his own sword lodged in his guts.

"I thought Zangetsu would be here," he said flatly.

The Hollow chuckled and let one leg dangle over the edge of his perch, "Still on that, are we? Shit guy, find some new lines."

Ichigo slowly nodded. He guessed this would happen after what happened atop Las Noches, Aizen's Palace in the Hollow World, Hueco Mundo. The…the new mask probably meant the Hollow was back in control of Zangetsu.

"Alright, Zangetsu," he grumbled darkly, "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know what you mean," the Hollow said innocently.

"The hell you do! What was that mask I had on top of Las Noches?"

The Hollow's smile never left his face. "Oh…you mean this mask?" Slowly he reached behind him and produced the Hollow mask. It looked similar to Ichigo's older one, but the red marks fell across both eyes now. Two massive horns grew out of the mask, becoming deadly sharp at their tips. The mask looked to enclose Ichigo's head completely with itself and a long orange mane that grew out the back. It was fearsome, beastly.

The Hollow continued, "What's wrong, King? This little baby saved your life, didn't it?"

"Don't give me that crap!" Ichigo cried, "You got in the way between me and Ulquiorra! If you hadn't interfered…!"

The Hollow's face changed suddenly. He glared down from where he sat, snarling, "If I hadn't interfered! What are you, a fucking child!"

In an instant he was only a few yards away from Ichigo, standing on the same building. "If it weren't for me, you'd be dead at that idiot Renji's feet back when you invaded the Seretei! Remember my mask?"

Ichigo's mind launched itself backwards, only a few months really, and yet an entire lifetime ago. He had struck out with his friends, Chad, Orihime, and Uryu against Soul Society to rescue Rukia from her execution. Back then, he didn't know what was the strange mask that…that blocked Renji Abarai's zanpakuto, stopped its teeth from striking him dead.

The Hollow continued, "Or how about Zaraki? Where do you think all that power came from? You thought you pulled all that power outta your ass! Fuck, I should have let Byakuya kill you on top of that hill!"

It all came back. Every fight, every fight since the very beginning either went against Ichigo, bringing out the Hollow, or he only hung on with his hollow mask. Byakuya, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra…

"Oh great, it's raining!" the Hollow threw up his arms. Ichigo noticed now the droplets hitting the side of his face.

"Every time you despair this happens! I gotta tell ya King, it's a real pain in the ass." The Hollow turned his coat up to block some of the rain from his face. "Seriously, knock it off! The whole city'll submerge at this rate!"

Ichigo didn't hear him. His mind was racing. What was that last thought?

"On top of Las Noches," he began, catching his Hollow's attention, "you took over."

The Hollow snorted, "Huh, yeah dumbass."

"So you were in complete control?"

"What is it with you? Yes! I was in control," he said impatiently. What was the King doing wasting his time with this bullshit? When was he gonna demand more power so they could fight?

Ichigo continued, "And you're supposed to be all instincts, right?"

"Alright King, I'm getting' really pissed at all this shit you're saying! Spit it out!"

For the first time that the Hollow could remember, Ichigo looked straight into his eyes. "So, it was your instinct to save Orihime."

"I…I never said that!" defensively.

Ichigo pressed the attack, "And you've said before that you're _my_ instincts."

"What are you trying to pull here?" The Hollow stepped back a bit as Ichigo began to advance. Did he realize he was moving?

It was Ichigo's turn to smile. "I know you're name."

They were only a foot apart. The Hollow knew his heels were almost hanging over the edge of the building, but only the King held his true attention. A single droplet of sweat trickled down the bridge of his nose as he stared into that strangely mirrored smile. Damn his smugness!

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

The Hollow leapt away from the building, resting high up and away from the King. He turned his glare back upon Ichigo and held his gaze.

"Keep your crummy, hand-me-down name!" he cried, "I'm fine bein' nameless!"

"You can't hide from it!" Ichigo hollered back, "You're me!"

The Hollow fired back, "Don't you get it! You just admitted being part Hollow!"

A long silence passed again. Ichigo's eyes grew distant, watching memories played upon an internal screen. What the Hollow said was true.

"Yeah," he said simply, "yeah that's right. But I figure," he locked gaze with the Hollow again, "if you still care about what I care about, even if it's at such a basic level, maybe it's not all bad being a Hollow. Shit, I've met a couple today that're pretty okay, if a bit weird."

Hollow Ichigo said nothing. He continued to stare at his landlord, his King. Was that it? Did he forget his mother so soon?

No, he didn't. Hollow Ichigo knew his King didn't. But that kid always knew how to put others before himself, and even the Hollow knew why Ichigo needed all the power he could get. He was going up against monsters.

His smile returned. It wasn't like they were merging or anything! It was just a little cozier is all.

"You realize you won't be 'you' anymore, right?" he asked, "not entirely anyway?"

Ichigo didn't hesitate. "Yeah. But I figure, same applies to you."

The Hollow threw back his head and let out a peal of laughter. "Oh! Ah shit king, you're gonna love being me!"


	4. Sexy Midgets Or Really Easy Sharks

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The title's an Acronym. Enjoy.

Recommended Music: You Spin me Right Round Remix (Marilyn Manson)__

* * *

The dim roar of the flames had settled into their awareness, like how one stops noticing the wind on a blustery day. Each of the three traitor Captains found ways to pass the time until their eventual rescue from Captain-Commander Yamamoto's barrier.

Captain Aizen kept his attention on the unfolding battle beyond with his senses. Occasionally he would comment on the fighting, how proud he was when a Shinigami fell, how upset when an Arrancar or Hollow was destroyed. Yet throughout all this he kept aloof and emotionally distant. Even Tosen could not tell what his master truly thought.

Tosen himself tried to meditate; tried being the operative word. Gin's constant games had slowly eroded his willpower, trying his patience and obliterating every nerve he possessed. The latest assault was the worst.

"You really don't want any?"

"For the last time, no!"

Gin shrugged and retracted his sword from the flames around them, a line of marshmallows stuck fast along the blade. They looked almost completely burned. Gin started placing them on the crackers he produced magically from his sleeves.

"I don't suppose you have any chocolate, d'ya Tosen?"

Tosen replied through gritted teeth, "No. No I do not have any chocolate," He got that far before exploding, "_Why the FUCK would I bring CHOCOLATE with me to such an important battle_!"

There was a long, dead silence filled only by the crackle of the flames and Tosen's deep, heaving breaths.

Gin's smile didn't vanish. "Aizen?"

As Aizen tossed the chocolate bar over one shoulder towards Gin, a strangled sound caught in Tosen's throat.

Gin caught the chocolate bar and started making his smores. "Someday, Tosen, you'll have to tell me how you could see that."

Silence returned. The tremor of Reiatsu that passed lit up all their senses. Tosen could feel Aizen's power tense. It was immediately clear that he would not tolerate being questioned. This was something Lord Aizen needed to feel out for himself.

Unlike Tosen, Gin blithely ignored that. "So, Hinamori turned up?" Aizen said nothing, but the way his shoulders twitched told Gin he was right. "Well the nerve! People oughta stay dead when you kill 'em. I guess we can drop one off your personal count, eh Aizen?"

Tosen held his breath. He couldn't see Aizen, couldn't see the expression on his face, but he knew Gin would be in serious trouble if he continued like this. Tosen crossed his fingers at that thought.

"It doesn't matter," said Aizen, his voice distant. "Her arrival won't make a difference."

Gin nodded, more to himself than anyone else. Aizen very rarely killed anyone face to face. He didn't really have the stomach for violence, Gin reflected, odd though it seemed. Stabbing Momo Hinamori had probably been the first cold-hearted murder Aizen had ever attempted.

"Well," Gin said, "let's hope she doesn't take it out on Harribel's Fracción. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Aizen still did not turn around. "Yes. I suppose…Gin?"

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Pass me a smore."

* * *

He started counting down. With Hitsugaya's bankai released, the ice petals would start falling one by one. He had to make this quick, or else…

"Is that all, Shorty?" his opponent asked, "I was told that a Shinigami's Bankai was their greatest weapon. All I see here are wings."

Hitsugaya's vertically-challenged form was wreathed in ice that formed great wings on his back. His arms were encased as well, helping him to hold his sword in a death-like vice. As the frost finished settling into his snow-white hair, he smirked. Only a fool underestimates their opponent based on their appearance.

"It's Captain Hitsugaya to you, Arrancar!" he called back across the space between them. "I'll show you what I can do with these 'wings'!"

His opponent was dressed all in white, hakama and all. Though she wore a high collared jacket that masked her face, it didn't quite fit considering Hitsugaya could see all of her…assets.

She tossed one of her blonde braids over her shoulder. "Very well. Don't think I'll hold back after what your allies did though. Those Fracción were as close to me as sisters."

Hitsugaya readied himself. A talker, eh…? "I'm sorry you've lost someone, but this is war. You had to expect that."

She reached for her sword, "Don't patronize me, Shinigami! Now bring…"

He already cleared the space between them, his sword within an inch of her throat. Just a bit further, he thought. Just a bit.

Her blade met his in an explosion of sparks and grinding steel. She pushed back. The Espada's strength launched Hitsugaya, his feet dragging a line of Reiatsu dust in the air before him.

She had the momentum, he knew. Hitsuaya brought his sword up, just in time as the Espada slammed into him, throwing him off balance again. Sword blows rained incessantly down, driving the Shinigami back.

She drew her sword back, lending all of her strength to the next strike. The whistling blade sliced through the air, slashing straight across Captain Hitsugaya's chest.

Or, what she thought was his chest. Her sword passed through him without resistance, leaving a line of water trailing after her blade-tip. The faux-Hitsugaya lost its shape almost immediately, the color only a cheap optical illusion.

That 'ice-clone' was all the opening he needed. The Captain brought his sword around in a swift arc behind his foe, lashing her back twice with cold steel, yet leaving no deep wounds, her 'Hiero' held against his blows. As the Espada spun around to retaliate, Hitsugaya struck a third time, releasing a wave of violent bitter cold from the blade.

She caught the sword on her arm, taking the full force of the blow. As the mist cleared she stood defensively, favoring her suddenly frozen arm.

"Forgive me, Shinigami," she hissed, "I never thought one so…puny could fight like that."

He brought himself up to his full, though meager height, ignoring his sore arms. She hit like a tank!

"Arrancar, you have the privilege of battling Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of Squad Ten!"

She watched him in silence for a moment, considering his words. "Very well…" She reached down to the base of her jacket, which the Captain noted was no great feet, and began to pull the zipper.

Hitsugaya sighed, "Why is it every woman I meet tries to take her clothes off?"

The Espada laughed, casting her jacket off, "Do not flatter yourself, Captain." Though he didn't mean to stare, Hitsugaya's eyes were transfixed by a terrible sight: beneath the Espada's fanged mask fragment, her breast bore a black tattooed '3'.

"You have the privilege," she spoke in a mock-impression of Hitsugaya, "of dying at the hands of the Tercera Espada, Tia Harribel."

Tercera? Did she mean to say that out of the Espada there were at least two more powerful than she!

"At least," he said, "you're polite enough to give your name. I'd hate to kill you and then not know your name."

Harribel laughed again, "The boasting does not become you, Shinigami." Her smile vanished in an instant. "However, if it makes you feel better, that girlfriend of yours will soon follow you, courtesy of my own blade."

"You touch one hair on Hinamori's head…!"

As if on cue, Harribel's sword swept in an arc before her, releasing a wave of yellow light and fire. Hitsugaya dodged around it, losing the tip of his ice-tail in the process. He forgot about Ceros.

"Destroy! Tiburone!" cried Harribel. The air split in an uproar of noise as the Reiatsu around Hitsugaya nearly solidified. Power, raw and uncontrolled flowed from the Espada like the opening of the floodgates. In moments, sheets of water whirled around her form, cutting off Hitsugaya's view.

As soon as it had appeared the flood of water vanished, leaving only Tia Harribel in its wake. Hitsugaya was almost lost for words.

Almost. "I can't believe you actually lost clothing!"

Harribel now stood in knee high white boots, white gloves, and white and black skirt. And little else, save for her mask, which now only covered the tiniest portion of her chest. Hitsugaya wondered if he would have to close his eyes to fight her if there were another transformation.

"Let's just say," she said, hefting a much larger, shark-like sword, "that it's an advantage to have your enemy's mind off fighting."

In the blink of an eye, Hitsugaya leapt again at his enemy, flash-stepping as swiftly as possible to catch her. He knew that, whatever this new form meant, it was definitely a good idea to not find out.

Their swords met again halfway across the distance. Every blow felt like Harribel had slammed a sledgehammer down on his arms, Hitsugaya thought. He held the slimmest of speed advantages, and used every bit of it to prevent the Espada from making a direct hit. His zanpakuto could never handle something like that.

On the defensive now, retreating constantly between the low buildings of Karakura, Hitsugaya tried to gain an angle on Harribel. This was easier said than done. As much as he prided himself on his speed and skill with a blade, this Espada was every bit his equal, pounding away at his defenses with her tremendous, shark-like sword and striking hard with her arms and powerful legs. Hitsugaya's arms and sides took the full brunt of the offensive.

A foot snapped out, grazing his eyebrow as Hitsugaya leaned away from the blow. Through the haze of hot pain, he saw Harribel prepare to strike, and saw his opening at last.

He dodged a strike clearly meant as a death blow, flash-stepping swiftly away, sending an arc of frigid energy back the way he came.

His attack struck Harribel on her sword, instantly encasing it in ice.

"Got you!" he flew straight towards her, blade ready to strike at her heart.

Harribel calmly watched him, and then swung her sword. A blast of water, once very clearly Hitsugaya's ice, streaked past him. Only his speed kept the Captain out of the water's path. That path happened to end some blocks away, after obliterating the buildings between.

Captain Hitsugaya leapt away from Harribel, stunned at the cataclysmic power she could project with only water. Did she melt the ice on her blade?

Her blade swept forward again, water pooling near the tip from several gill-like 'slits' along the sword's length. The water exploded like a wave of rockets, sweeping towards Hitsugaya in rapid succession. Each blast roared past him, shattering brick and cement like it was nothing more than loose sand.

He touched down on an uncollapsed building. Harribel had stopped firing.

"Why let me land, Espada?" he asked, "I might gain a second wind."

"Considering how those ice-petals," she nodded to the flowers about Hitsugaya's head, "are melting at such a constant rate, I'd bet money you only have another six minutes before you run out of power entirely. I can afford to indulge myself when there's no chance you'll ever get close enough to hit me again."

"That's…awfully arrogant of you."

"I can afford to be cruel, Captain."

Harribel fired another deadly blast of water. Hitsugaya held his ground as it careened towards him, his face locked in stern concentration. His sword flashed out, striking the water as the Captain side-stepped. Instantly he carried through with the blast's momentum, spinning once around before releasing a wave of new ice back at his foe.

She leapt away as the ice crashed through the building she was occupying.

"Funny thing, Harribel!" Hitsugaya called, "I can make ice out of water! We're dead even now. Our attacks can't touch each other…!"

In hindsight, Hitsugaya thought that may have been a bit presumptuous. Harribel planted her knee casually somewhere deep in his gut, and followed with a fist to his face. Their battle re-engaged the Shinigami and the Arrancar crashing into one another with enough force to have obliterated lesser opponents.

Harribel swung a mighty blow at Hitsugaya, forcing him back. As he recovered, the Espada held her zanpakuto aloft. He watched with dread as cracks began to encircle the sword, cutting the blade into segments. Even more terrifying, the segments began to spin opposite each other, creating a whirling blur at the end of Harribel's arm.

The spinning blade's momentum conjured a whirlwind to build around the sword, drawing in vast amounts of its mistress' Reiatsu. The yellow blaze burned like the heart of a sun, blinding Hitsugaya even as the force of its might pushed him back.

"Behold," she said, "my Arma Blanca Cielo! This drill cannot be stopped, cannot be halted! It is a drill that can pierce the heavens!" Harribel swung her blade with all her monstrous strength, sending the whirling torrent of power crashing down upon him.

Hitsugaya steadied himself. He would need all the concentration he could muster, all the power left to him. The ice petals were nearly gone, he knew. Only a few minutes remained.

With the last of his might, the Captain struck back. He struck against the current, digging his sword into the raging yellow fire like a raft against a storm. Sparks exploded from his sword, the Reiatsu wind grinding against him.

Hitsugaya gritted his teeth, "Is that…is that all you got! You've sorely underestimated the power of a Captain of the…"

"No," she said, appearing instantly in the eye of the Reiatsu storm, "I didn't."

The drill-sword crashed into Hitsugaya, shattered his zanpakuto as easily as if it were driftwood. The spinning tip did not slice, but grinded across his chest, flaying his flesh like paper.

The Espada granted the Captain a modicum of dignity in allowing him to fall. She did not destroy him at once, but let the hard concrete of Karakura welcome his body. A cloud of rubble and dust belched up from the earth as he hit, obscuring his final resting place.

Of course, things were never that simple. She knew he was alive. She didn't care. There was still the matter of Harribel's Fracción. There must be blood.

Hitsugaya meanwhile dragged himself out of the crater he left. He normally would have recognized the blasted, twisted remains of Uryu Ishida's home, had he not have blasted and twisted it in his crash.

Above him, he could hear the mocking laugh of the Tercera Espada. "I see your petals have gone, Shinigami. You have lost."

"Lost?" he asked, disbelieving, "Really? My petals are gone. I've won."

The wind picked up. It swelled into a bluster, then a gale. The ice-dragon encasing Hitsugaya's body began to collapse, disintegrating before Harribel's eyes. As the wind became a hurricane, the ground about the Shinigami became frosted in white.

"Im-impossible! You shouldn't have this kind of power!"

"Shouldn't!" Hitsugaya cried, "I'm a Captain of the Gotei Thirteen! Mine is the most powerful of all the ice zanpakutos! Just who the hell do you think I am!"

A bitter cold settled upon Karakura Town. Windows nearby frosted over, then shattered. Water pipes burst and froze while the river stopped dead in its tracks. The concrete around Hitsugaya became gray.

"The petals," he continued, "don't represent a maximum amount of time I can remain in Bankai. They tell me how long I have before my Bankai starts damaging my body on a cellular level. My…short…body cannot withstand its power. So forgive me if I have to cut this short; you wouldn't believe how much it hurts to have your blood crystallize in your veins…actually…"

His sword arm, stiff from the cold, swung out, sending a cascade of gray light hurtling towards Harribel, calling out, "…maybe you should find out!"

The Espada leapt away, her flash-step carrying her out of the way of the blast. The gray-light flooded the town where she had been, swiftly forming a glacier several blocks wide as well as tall. Harribel eyed the ice warily. Such power!

And yet, something wasn't right…

"Noticed yet?" Hitsugaya appeared in the sky, only a few hundred meters behind her, "There's nothing in the ice."

She glanced again, but kept her attention on the Shinigami. "Nothing? But the town…I saw…"

"A part of Karakura was swallowed up, certainly. But it is no longer there. care to know why?"

As Harribel watched Captain Hitsugaya, she noted the change. Frost and ice began to cling to him, his hair, his skin, even his robes. If she looked hard enough, she swore she could see ice forming behind his eyes.

"This power is Hyorinmarus's greatest ability, Zettai Rei-Do. Absolute Zero," Hitsugaya said. "Its power is such that all motion of molecules can be stopped. Matter, Reiatsu even, cannot exist as we understand it, erasing all that I freeze from existence itself!"

He flinched. Hitsugaya blinked away a tear, pain slowly building deep within. This had to end now.

Harribel smiled. "You're still on a time limit. Or are you going to tell me that tears of blood are normal?" she said, noting the crimson trail flowing down his cheek.

Hitsugaya swung again, exploding a wave of glacial might towards his opponent. She dodged the blast, and the second, and the third.

She kept a pace ahead of him. Harribel knew that was what she needed, to keep ahead. But it was difficult; this Shinigami wasn't slow, and she could feel the utter lethality of his attack as it narrowly slipped past her.

There was an opening, the Shinigami flinching again, more blood forming under his skin from popping veins. She had him now! With all speed, Harribel fired another whirlwind of power from her drill-sword. The blast broke upon him, a wave upon cold rocks.

As the yellow flames cleared Hitsugaya stood, still alive, preparing another swing of his zanpakuto. Still, Harribel took cold comfort knowing that at least the Captain's left arm had shattered under her blow. Fragile, was he…?

After the next cold wave missed her, Harribel stopped her sword's spinning.

"What…giving up…already…?" Hitsugaya managed to say in ragged, heaving gasps. His ribs cracked as he inhaled another breath.

"Not a chance, Shinigami." Harribel judged her aim quickly, then cast her sword up into the heavens with all her might.

"El Diluvio!"

The sword vanished into the sky, leaving not a trace of its existence. Hitsugaya continued to watch as black clouds gathered overhead at lightning speeds. In the center of the cloud banks, a swirling void began to take shape.

"Another…one of…your tricks?"

"Not at all, Captain Hitsugaya."

"Using…my title…now…?"

"Due to the dead," she smirked, "of course!"

From the depths of the clouds came a rushing, pounding cacophony. The sound of water, and a lot of it, slowly drowned out the din of battle around Karakura Town.

Hitsugaya laughed, bitterly. "What's this…? Water…? I already…told you…"

"Tell me," Harribel interrupted, "Have you ever stopped to consider the Arctic Seas? How cold, how monstrously cold are they? And yet, in their depths, they never freeze."

The deluge appeared. It was not rain. It was not a flood as Hitsugaya understood. What he stared at was a monolith. The very Floodgates of Heaven must have been set loose, so great was that which he faced now.

The sky was a solid wall of water a mile thick.

Hitsugaya and central Karakura Town vanished, leaving behind an ocean.


End file.
